ephaniah was the great-great grandson of king Hezekiah (715-697 BCE) of Judah.
His name means “treasured of YHVH.” He is listed ninth among the “minor”
prophets in the TaNaKh (Old Testament), but he is by no means minor in status.
It is only the books that are shorter than the “major” prophets - Isaiah,
Jeremiah & Ezekiel - that are classified as “minor.” In his time, Zephaniah was
a powerful voice speaking on behalf of God. His book contains messages for both
Jew and gentile alike.

Zephaniah’s prophecies took place at a time when the barbaric
Scythians were invading the land now known as Palestine (630-625 BCE). In Judah,
Josiah was on the throne.

At the time, Judah had descended into idolatry. Pagan priests in
full regalia could be seen plying the streets of Jerusalem. They worshiped the
usual suspects: Baal, Molech and the stars (Zephaniah 1:4-5). The way of the
true God had atrophied almost out of existence. The people of God seldom, if
ever, consulted God about anything (Zephaniah 1:6). The leaders wore foreign
garb to show solidarity with pagans (verse 8b).

In verse 9 we find a peculiar statement: “On that day I will
punish,” says God, “all who avoid stepping on the threshold…” What does this
mean? Apparently, a superstition had arisen in which people believed that
demonic spirits lived above and under thresholds of houses - so they leaped over
the threshold to avoid making contact. A similar superstition had arisen earlier
in history in connection with the false god, Dagon. You can read about it in I
Samuel 5:1-5.

The Business Community

A
major business center in Jerusalem was located in the vicinity of the fish gate.
The prophet warns the merchants, “Wail, you who live in the market district; all
your merchants will be wiped out, all who trade with silver will be ruined…”
(Zephaniah 1:11). Why economic collapse? What is their offense? Complacency
(Verse 12)! These money changers don’t take God’s warning through his prophet
seriously. They are deluded into thinking, “The Lord will do nothing, either
good or bad” (verse 12b).

This is similar to the mentality of those about whom Peter wrote,
“First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come,
scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this
“coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has
since the beginning of creation,’ (II Peter 3:3-4).

If divine action doesn’t immediately follow divine warning,
people grow complacent. They become skeptical, doubting the veracity of the
message. Yet, between the warning and the action, God often allows time for
repentance. God told the ancient Judeans more than 2500 years ago that the “day
of the Lord” was coming and that “Neither their silver nor their gold will be
able to save them,” (Zephaniah 1:18). The same may be true for our time. Many
are buying and hording gold, silver and diamonds in hopes they will “make it
through” the hard times that are coming. “Apocalyptic survivalists” are
frantically storing food, building underground bunkers and arming themselves to
the teeth as a means of surviving end time scenarios. It may or may not work.

Who Will Survive?

In
Zephaniah’s day, God singled out a particular kind of people for favor while the
rest were destined for punishment: “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
you do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you
will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger,” (Zephaniah 2:3).

There were no guarantees. The prophet said “perhaps” the humble
would be spared. The point is those who humbled themselves and lived by God’s
standards stood a better chance of surviving than the rest. In Luke’s Gospel, we
find a warning for the end times. Jesus tells us, “Be careful, or your hearts
will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life,
and that day will come upon you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon
all who live upon the face of the earth. Be always on the watch and pray that
you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able
to stand before the Son of Man,” (Luke 21:34-36).

For a godly person, there’s no room for “business as usual.” There
is no place for complacency. We can’t afford to slip back into carnality and
self-indulgence. We must walk in humility and obedience before God on whom our
salvation depends. Even then, we may or may not be spared the pain that will
come upon the world.

Indicting the Nations

The
next section of Zephaniah indicts the nations and peoples that are close to
Judea. Coastal kingdoms like Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron are warned, “I
will destroy you and none will be left,” (Zephaniah 2:5b). He speaks also to the
Kerethites (also spelled “Cherethites”) in Canaan (5a). Their land will be given
to the remnant of Judah when God restores their fortunes (2:6-7).

Moab and Ammon are also excoriated. They were guilty of taunting and
insulting the Jews (2:8). Like the Arabs and Iranians of today, they “made
threats” against the chosen people. Their lands would therefore go to “the
survivors of my nation,” says God (verse 9b). Today’s nations should think twice
about mocking, insulting and threatening God’s Israelite people (verse 10). Long
ago, God had promised Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever
curses you I will curse,” (Genesis 12:3). Many other Biblical passages support
that promise including Acts 7:7; Deuteronomy 7L7-8; Isaiah 43:10-12; Obadiah 15
and Joel 3:4 &19. To oppose Israel is to oppose Israel’s God.

Next Zephaniah prophesies against the Cushites (possibly Ethiopians)
and against Assyria (then in decline). Then the prophet returns to his
indictment of Jerusalem and Judea.

Jerusalem’s Problem

Jerusalem’s problem - that is her leader’s problem - is that “she obeys no one,
she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord, she does not draw
near to her God,” (Zephaniah 3:2). The religious leaders, prophets and priests,
are treacherous and cavalier about Torah. They are brazen in their misconduct,
knowing no shame (verses 4&5).

Therefore punishment must come. After the storm, the light breaks
through. The relative few, who have humbled themselves in obedience to God, even
in captivity, will provide the seed of redemption. “But I will leave within you
the meek and the humble who trust in the name of the Lord,” (Zephaniah 3:12).
God will again gather his people and return them to his land (verse 14-end).

In our time, God may be bringing our nations down. If he is doing
so, all the gold and guns in the world won’t save us. No matter how ingenious
our hiding places, and no matter how much food and water we have stored, if God
wants to take us down, we’ll go down. We all need to turn to God whether we are
Arabs, Turks, Iranians, Americans or Israelis. God is sovereign over all the
nations and their kings. The words of a humbled Nebuchadnezzar ring down through
the centuries:

“His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from
generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No
one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’

“…those who walk in pride he is able to humble,” (Daniel 4:34, 35,
37 excerpts).

Nebuchadnezzar had to learn one vital lesson: “…that the Most High
is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes,”
(Daniel 4:32b). That principle is no less true today than it was in ancient
times.

Zephaniah’s prophecies were written more than two and a half
millennia in the past in another language and in the context of a very different
world than our own. Yet, his words contain valuable object lessons for our day.
God has not changed. He still looks for humility in those who worship him. “This
is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my
word,” (Isaiah 66:2).